Pages

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Out with the old - in with the new

I've been eager to share my new book covers with you ever since I saw the finished images a few months ago. Yesterday, I received the final full covers from Amazon Publishing, so I'm very excited to be able to say, "Here they are!"

The level of input I've had towards their creation has been very impressive, to the degree that they feel as much 'my' covers as the originals. Amazon have certainly shown me that they both welcome and respect their authors' opinions, and between us I think the end results are great. I love the vibrant colours and the mood they set, and I think the inclusion of a figure in each image has added an extra connection that was lacking before. Seeing them all together like this makes me feel like a child in a sweet shop again, and I just know the paperbacks are going to look amazing. I can't wait to hold them all and see them together on my bookshelf! They will be available, along with the audio editions on CD and digital download from March 18.

I hope you like them, and thank you for taking the time to check them out. To see larger images where it might be easier to read the new blurbs, just click an image for the gallery.

In the Blood

The jetty or pontoon where Mawgan Hendry was murdered in 1803, as depicted in the prologue, is central to the story of In the Blood, and I'm glad it stayed. Now JT is there, pondering the mystery of Hendry's murder. I think the frothing clouds add great atmosphere, and they remind me of the nightmare Amy has in the book. I think the full jacket really adds to the drama and the sense of space as JT gazes out over the Helford River.

To the Grave

The new cover for To the Grave is perhaps the closest of the three to the original, but now with added atmosphere. I think the mood it creates really suits the tone of the book. I always thought that Mena's little red suitcase - the beginning of the mystery - was a strong image, so I'm very glad it remained, and has now been made stronger by the indistinct, almost ghostly figure in the distance. I must see about getting the full Jackets printed for my cabin wall.

The Last Queen of England

This was the most effective improvement for me as it incorporates the imagery I always had in my head, but which I was unable to reproduce with the tools I had - largely my camera and limited graphics software. It shouts thriller to me now: St Pauls ties it to London for a big backdrop, JT is there running with his briefcase, as he is throughout most of the book, and those subtly rendered binary digits - the key to the story - streaming down the cover like something from The Matrix. I love it.

And here they are together. I think the series and author identities are nice and strong. Book four will be out later this year, with the release date due to be announced at the launch on March 18.

Sunday, 12 January 2014

The arrival of 2014 saw me full of eagerness to get on and finish the first draft of my next Jefferson Tayte mystery, having spent several weeks working with Amazon Publishing on the re-release of my books with Thomas & Mercer in March. I'm pleased to say that the content, blurbs and covers have all now been finalised, and the audiobooks have all been recorded, so everything's set. On then to write the 30,000 words remaining from the 100,000 I've been aiming for since I began writing book four in May last year.

As I've said previously, I'm not a great believer in writer's block as some kind of barrier to creative flow that simply abandons us one day to return at the whim of the writer's muse. For me at least, I came to see it as a lack of preparation, plain and simple. If you know what you're going to write before you actually start writing, I think there's a very good chance that you'll write well and progress the story. It's those times when you sit down to write and then find yourself thinking, 'Okay... So where is this going next?' that you're in trouble, and there I was last week, staring at that very question. Fortunately, I quickly realised that I was having trouble getting going because I didn't have the plot details worked out enough to continue, so I didn't stare at that blank page for very long.

Last week then was not spent writing as I'd hoped, but with detail plotting. I decided it would be best to work through the details to the end of the book, so that when I sat down to write again, I could keep going without pausing too much to think about what happens next, setting all the locations and the key points of action and dialogue that would see the first draft finished. There's going to be a past narrative again in my next book, much as with To the Grave, so I've worked our all the sections with Jefferson Tayte that fall between the past narrative sections, which are often tricky to get right, because the present-day action must be pertinent to what's happening in the past for the connection between Tayte and the past story he's uncovering to feel natural, and the timing is also crucial. I've been through many 'chicken and egg' scenarios because often something I've wanted to happen in the present couldn't happen at that moment in the story because it would spoil something in the past story. This can be a good thing though, because it forces me to focus on the timing of information, which often leads to the intrigue that keeps the pages turning.

A week on and I'm almost there. I'm at the denouement now, just working out the last bits of detail and bringing all the threads together, which is proving quite a challenge in itself. Yesterday was a tough day as I realised I had a very major plot issue that I just couldn't find a solution to. But as I'm pulling out what little hair I have left, Mrs R gently reminds reminds me that this is nothing new, and I think back over the other books and remind myself that yes, it's always like this towards the end of a book: a sense of panic and then elation as the answer comes to me. Sometimes it feels as if I've been presented with a thousand ladders, knowing that the answer I'm looking for is at the top of just one of them, and I have to climb each to find out, getting so far before falling each time and starting over. And then suddenly I've started on a ladder that allows me to keep going right to the top and I'm there!

It can be very nerve-wracking to get to the end of a story and realise something major just doesn't work, but this is how I write. When I start a new book, I write a high level plot and then I work through the key elements to make sure that what I'm proposing to do is feasible. Then I detail plot a section - about a quarter of the story at a time - write that and then detail plot the next quarter, and so on. I don't like to detail plot all in one go because stories have a way of changing as you write them and I like to leave some room for that to happen.

So, I'm going to be climbing a few more ladders today, and then writing up some more plot details ready to start writing again on Monday, confident that when I sit down at my laptop with my mug of tea this time around, I'll be able to write, write and write some more until the first draft is finished.

About Me

Steve Robinson drew upon his own family history for inspiration when he imagined the life and quest of his genealogist-hero, Jefferson Tayte. The talented London-based crime writer, who was first published at age 16, always wondered about his own maternal grandfather--"He was an American GI billeted in England during the Second World War," Robinson says. "A few years after the war ended he went back to America, leaving a young family behind and, to my knowledge, no further contact was made. I traced him to Los Angeles through his 1943 enlistment record and discovered that he was born in Arkansas . . ." Robinson cites crime writing and genealogy as ardent hobbies--a passion that is readily apparent in his work. He can be contacted via his website www.steve-robinson.me or his blog at www.ancestryauthor.blogspot.com.